A Fool's Augury
by pandorabox82
Summary: Erin Strauss hates Aprils Fool's Day with a passion, and also with good reason. When this year's prank goes horribly wrong, will Penelope Garcia be able to salvage any hopes of keeping her job at the BAU? Written for the CCoAC April challenge.
1. He who shall hurt the little wren

Erin Strauss hated the first day of April with a passion. The last eight years had driven that point home with a vengeance. Last year, someone in the BAU had gotten into her office and rigged up a water balloon to drop on her when she opened the door. The year before that it had been her doorknob set to give her a shock the moment she touched it. Before then had been superglue on her keyboard, everything in her office switched around, and various other annoyances to her otherwise orderly life. She was certain this year would be no different and braced herself for what was about to come.

Nodding to her assistant, she cautiously opened her door, not knowing what to expect. When nothing happened, she felt her guard go up. Looking around the room, she noticed nothing out of place. Apprehension filled her and she gingerly touched both her chair and keyboard. Her hand came up clean and she released the breath she'd been holding.

Erin booted her computer up and gasped. Someone had made her background change from the waterfall picture it normally was to an obviously photoshopped picture of her in bed with another woman. The aching hurt turned quickly to anger. "Ms. Garcia," she hissed through clenched teeth. She was about to call her assistant when the woman came hurtling into the room, trepidation and anger on her face. "What's wrong Rachel?"

"Ma'am, you need to find out who's done this to you."

"Done what?"

"Sent that picture of you and another woman around the building. It was cc'ed to everyone here. I know it's been photoshopped, but will Director Shepperd? This is so out of hand this year."

Erin stared at Rachel blankly for a moment, trying to comprehend her words. "Bring Penelope Garcia to me, now!" Rachel smiled at the hostility evident in her voice and nodded furiously before turning on her heel and exiting the room. Once she had left, Erin gave in to her tears, burying her face in her hands. So focused was she on her shame and sorrow that she didn't hear her door open and close. It was only when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder that she looked up into the guilty face of Penelope Garcia.

"You wanted to see me, Ma'am?" she asked, looking concerned.

"Sit, please." Erin waited until her order had been followed before turning her monitor to face the technical analyst. "Explain this," she bit out, her voice controlled and low.

"April Fool's?" she replied, biting her lip nervously.

"Well, you got the fool part right. Why would you send something like this to the entire building?" Her eyes widened in shock and Erin watched the blood drain from her face.

"It was only supposed to go on your desktop, as a joke. Morgan told me it would not go any further than that. Oh Erin, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean…" She broke down, wrapping her arms around her stomach as she sobbed. Wordlessly, Erin handed her the tissue box and she took some, wiping her eyes carefully. After a few minutes, she calmed down and looked into Erin's eyes. "I can fix this. Please, let me make this better before you fire me."

Erin stood and Penelope slid behind her desk, looking at the email. Her shoulders visibly relaxed after a few moments. "What is it?" Erin asked sharply.

"All of these addresses are spoofs, Ma'am, except for yours. This was just him taking the joke way too far. I'm so, so, sorry. Please, forgive me."

"Why do you care if I grant you forgiveness? You certainly didn't care if this joke would hurt me in the first place. You only apologized when you got caught. Forgiveness, like trust, is earned, and you have done nothing to earn it." She flinched from the anger in Erin's voice and nodded. "You're suspended for two weeks without pay. If I see you here before that time is up, you're fired. Now get out of my sight."

Penelope fairly fled the room, slamming the door behind her. Rachel came in minutes later and looked at her boss. "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Bring me the head of Derek Morgan?"

"Something that won't end with my arrest?"

"Bring him here to me, Rachel. I want to see him squirm." She nodded, a frigid smile on her lips. _I've trained her well_," Erin thought as she left the room. Her earlier sorrow was gone, replaced by a burning core of rage.

"You wanted to see me, Chief Strauss?" His voice dripped with arrogance and sarcasm, and Erin refused to look up from her computer screen and acknowledge him too quickly. "Chief Strauss?"

"Agent Morgan, your actions today are reprehensible at best. And then you pulled one of your friends in on your sick idea of a joke. Do you even realize this could have gotten her fired?" She looked up at him, pinning him with her steely blue eyes. "I think a four week suspension without pay will begin to atone for your sins. You may leave, now."

Erin looked back at her computer screen, dismissing him with her actions. "You won't get away with this, Ma'am. Hotch will see this doesn't stick."

"I highly doubt that, Agent Morgan. Hand over your credentials, I'll see you in a month." She held out her hand expectantly, not turning away from the screen. Morgan angrily threw them onto her desk before storming out.

After he'd gone, she switched her background to the waterfall. But all she could see, burned on her retina, was the picture of her. It disturbed her more than she could put a finger on. It wasn't the content; there was nothing wrong with two women being together. But to make a thing of beauty into a malicious joke, maybe that was the rub for her.

Time passed, albeit slowly, and after lunch, she had another visitor. "You suspended two members of my team, Erin? What's gotten under your skin now?" Agent Hotchner asked as he entered the office, a frown on his face.

"As I've said, time and again, your team is reckless. This little stunt Derek pulled today could very well have gotten him and Ms. Garcia fired had it reached Director Shepperd. Be glad I only gave them suspensions." She looked into his eyes and saw the confusion there. "I won't show you the picture, suffice it to say the scurrilous nature of it is enough to make you think of your team members differently."

"Penelope would never…"

"She's in love with Agent Morgan, that changes everything, and you know that. And before I decide to put the rest of your team on desk duty until Ms. Garcia gets back, you might want to head back to your office now." She arched her eyebrow, daring him to say more. He only nodded and turned on his heel, exiting the room.

Her concentration show, she shut down her system and got up from her desk. "Rachel, I'm going home early. If anything else happens, call me at once."

"Yes, Ma'am. I must say, you were really lenient with Ms. Garcia. If it had been me, she would have been gone after a stunt like this."

"The quality of mercy, Rachel. She was contrite, after all. Oh, and I left Agent Morgan's credentials on my desk. See to it that they're locked up, would you?"

"Certainly. Have a more pleasant evening, Ma'am."

Erin nodded and left the office, taking the stairs to work off some of her residual anger. Perhaps she had been a bit harsh with Penelope, but she had to be in this case. She had to realize there were consequences for her actions. But her mother's heart ached for the woman. The image of her tear-stained face would haunt her for the next few days, Erin was certain of that.

When she got home, Robert was already there, finishing up supper. "You're home early, darling." He kissed her sweetly and she melted into him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Was it a rough day at the office?"

She laughed mirthlessly. "It's the first of April, what do you think, Rob?"

"That it might explain the flowers, then?"

"Flowers?"

"Yeah, I set them on top of the piano. Go take a look while I round the kids up." She nodded and moved into the living room, her eyes drawn to the arrangement atop the baby grand. It was effusive, gaudy almost, and had Penelope's hand written all over it. Hidden amongst the peonies, poppies, red carnations, and chrysanthemums was a single stem of purple hyacinth.

Erin pulled out the card, smiling slightly through the mist of tears in her eyes as she read Penelope's words. _'You're right, forgiveness is earned. Please accept these as a token of my contrition.'_ It was a dear gesture, and Erin felt her heart soften towards the woman even more. After all, it had been a hard six months on her, losing bot Agent Jareau and Agent Prentiss. And Agent Morgan could sweet talk a slug into eating salt when he used his considerable charm.

Sighing, she called her florist. "Hi, this is Erin Strauss. I need a bouquet of pink roses and white tulips delivered to Penelope Garcia. Yes, her address is in my file. Put on the card – 'Your token is accepted, Erin'. No, that will be all. I'd like it to be at her apartment tomorrow morning. Thank you." She hung up and went into the kitchen, finding the table set and her children smiling up at her. "Did you have a good day at school?" she asked after Robert had finished praying. A happy chatter filled the room and Erin lost herself in the mundane happenings of her family.

In the morning, she found herself happier than she'd been in a while. At work, she found Rachel behind her desk, typing furiously on a report. "Any call, Rachel?"

"No, Ma'am. It's been a quiet morning so far."

"That's what I like to hear." Erin went into her office and booted up her computer. She checked her email and found nothing of importance to deal with. Closing the program, she pulled out the evaluations she needed to work on and began to go over the files. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed icons moving around on her desktop and frowned slightly.

Then a dialogue box popped up on the screen. "Don't worry, Ma'am. I'm just cleaning up your computer a bit. This will make things run a lot smoother. Penelope." Erin's frown faded away and she relaxed into her chair. Once more, Penelope was trying to earn her forgiveness. What she didn't realize yet was that Erin had already granted it.

Biting the bullet, she called Penelope. "Hello, Ms. Garcia."

"Ma'am! I hope you didn't mind me invading your computer. The performance was really slow, and I fixed a few things to help you out. Thank you for the flowers. Do you mean them?"

"Yes. I'd like to invite you to my house for supper. There are some things we need to discuss."

"Certainly. What time would you like me to be there?"

"Around six."

"Can I bring anything? Wine, dessert?"

"IF you'd like to bring a bottle of Bordeaux, that would be fine."

"All right, I'll see you then. Oh, and Chief Strauss?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."


	2. Shall never be beloved by men

Penelope nervously smoothed her skirt with her free hand. In her other, she clutched an '82 Bordeaux. This was a crucial encounter, and she didn't want to screw it up. She'd already managed to do enough of that this week. Chief Strauss had understood the message in the flowers, though, and had replied accordingly. Seeing her cry yesterday had broken something inside Penelope. She suddenly saw her boss as human, as someone who could be hurt and the sorrow in her eyes had spoken to Penelope.

Hesitantly, she knock on the door, and a young girl answered it. "You must be Penelope. Mom's waiting for you in the living room. Just listen for the piano, and you'll find it."

Penelope stepped into the house and cocked her head, searching for the music. Finally, she heard the strains of song and made her way towards it.

Erin's back was to her and her head was bend over the keyboard as she played. The raw emotion pouring out of her fingers tugged at Penelope's heart. Quietly, she sat in the wingback chair closest to her, not wanting Erin to stop playing. The song came to an end, and Penelope sighed, wiping away the tears that had begun to fall.

Erin turned and looked at her. Penelope noticed at once that her defenses were down and knew that she had to tread carefully so as not to hurt the woman further. "That sounded lovely," she said softly, lowering her eyes. "I didn't know you played."

"There's a lot about me that Alpha team doesn't know."

"More's the pity. Will you play another piece for me?" Erin didn't answer and she looked up to see she'd turned back to the keyboard. Soon, another song was spilling out from her hands and Penelope lost herself in the music.

Near the song's end, the same girl as earlier come into the room. "Supper's ready, Mom, whenever you are."

"Thanks, Natalie. We'll be there in just a minute." Erin stood and went over to Penelope, holding out her hand. Penelope held out the bottle of wine and Erin raised her eyebrow. "No, your hand, Penelope."

"Oh, right." She held out her free hand and Erin helped her up. She walked a step behind Erin into a warm, inviting kitchen. The table had been set and three children sat around it already, looking at them as they entered.

"I'll take the wine," Erin's husband (Richard? Ryan?) said, holding out his hand. "Ah, an '82 Bordeaux. This is a great vintage. We'll have it with dessert. I'm Robert, by the way."

"Oh, that's right, you haven't met my family. These are my children Natalie, Henry, and Evelyn. Children, this is Penelope." They waved to her and she sat down next to Natalie. Erin sat on her right, and soon both were clasping her hands as Robert prayed over the food. "Amen," Erin echoed and Penelope followed suit.

It was weird to hear them talk about their day and to get to know, really know, her boss. There was a tenderness to her that surprised Penelope at first, unused to seeing that from her. "And how was your day, Penelope?"

She looked at Erin and smiled. "Relaxing. After I tuned up your system, I caught up on some coding work that needed doing. I kicked butt in my video game, smoking all the boys I was up against today, and went shopping, All in all, a pretty good day."

"I'm glad," Erin said, patting her hand gently. The rest of the meal passed quickly, and soon Robert was pouring them wine. Erin took her glass and motioned for Penelope to follow her. "We'll be in the living room for a while. It's a Friday night, so bedtime is at eleven, all right?" The kids nodded and she exited the room, Penelope at her side.

Penelope sank down on the sofa, carefully holding the wine glass so that it didn't spill. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Why would you let Agent Morgan lead you around like he does?"

"You really don't hold back. I love him, I suppose. I know he doesn't return my feelings, and that's okay. I just need a best friend right now and he fits that bill. I'd do anything for him."

"To the point of madness. He could have very easily cost you your job."

"I know. I just don't know how to disentangle myself from him when he asks me for something. How do you say no to your best friend?" Penelope took a sip of wine, looking at Erin questioningly.

"You have to think of the consequences of what they ask of you. I know your heart is tender to others, Agent Hotchner always writes about the deep well of compassion you possess. Why then –" Erin broke off, looking into her wine, biting her cheek.

"Why then would I hurt you? Honestly, it's because up until yesterday I only saw you as our resident bitch. And I'm hurting, reeling, from losing Emily. You were an easy target to lash out against. I already lost one family, and now, I'm losing another." Penelope closed her eyes, trying to will away the tears that pricked at her eyes. 'But, I guess you are a part of that family, too. We're an extension of you when we're on the field." It was Penelope's turn to stare into her wine, suddenly shy at showing herself so plainly to Erin. Hurriedly, she downed the wine and set the glass aside, wrapping her arms around her legs as she stared ahead.

"Penelope…"

"How do you say I'm sorry when those words sound so hollow, so trite? I wounded you. No one cries like that unless they've been grievously wounded. And I caused that." She began crying in earnest, unable to ignore what Erin had brought to the surface.

"Penelope, look at me." She turned her head to see Erin's face. "I can't take back the suspension, your actions have to have consequences. But I know you're sorry. I forgive you."

"Would you mind if I, if I hugged you?" she asked quickly, trying to get control of her tears.

Erin set her glass on the coffee table and opened her arms. Penelope fell against her, her sobs breaking forth once more. "Penelope, honey, calm down. You'll make yourself ill if you cry so hard for so long." She stroked her hair gently, and Penelope felt her heart ease as she recognized the mother in Erin. Eventually, the sobs petered out and Penelope sat back on the couch, wiping her face clear of residual tears.

"I must look a mess," she said, sniffling a little still.

"Crying does that to a person."

"I don't like to make you perform on command, but would you play for me again? There's such beauty in what you do."

"I'm not that good."

"Yes, you are. Did Gideon know you could play like this? He loved classical music."

Erin ducked her head, blushing. "He's been to a few of my recitals, actually." She stood up and made her way over to the piano. "Come, join me over here."

Penelope sat on the bench next to Erin, watching her fingers fly over the keys as she played a song from memory. That song blended into another and Penelope felt peace descend on her slowly as the music soaked into her soul. "I know this one," she whispered as she began to hum along. "Why aren't you like this at work?" she suddenly blurted out.

Erin's fingers stilled on the keys as she turned her head to look at Penelope. "I can't be."

"Why not?"

"No one would take me seriously, for one. And I don't know where to start being like this there. Weakness did not get me to my current position, and if I want to be made Director when Shepperd retires, I need to appear as strong as possible." She sighed. "Of course, that's meant alienating everyone I've come in contact with, save Rachel."

"She is a lot like you, from the little I interacted with her yesterday. And kindness is not weakness, my fearless leader, it is the best sort of strength." Penelope touched Erin's shoulder lightly. "It takes strength to forgive."

Erin shook her head. "I can't change this late in the game, Penelope. It's not that easy." She laughed a little. "Besides, I think I have a life-long enemy in Agent Morgan. He would never buy a change in me, and neither would anyone in the BAU. Face it, this is the way that I am and the way I shall always be."

"I don't buy that. No one is so set in their ways that they can't change little by little. You wouldn't have invited me here if there weren't a grain of truth in those very words." Penelope set her own hands on the keyboard, pressing down lightly only to hear nothing happen.

"It's not like a computer keyboard," Erin said gently. "You have to press a little harder for the sound to come out." Standing, she went behind Penelope and placed her hands over the other woman's. "Like this." She pressed firmly down on her fingers and Penelope smiled as she made music happen. Turning, she looked up into Erin's face.

"You do realize by letting me in like this, I won't be able to stop singing your praises. If you can't change on your own, maybe I can help with that. Alpha might just follow my lead, you know."

"Then I'd rename you Penelope Garcia, miracle worker. It would take that to change anyone's heart at this point."

"And we make minor miracle happen every time we catch an unsub. This should be a walk in the park compared to that."

Erin arched her eyebrow and went back over to the sofa. "Your optimism is admirable." Penelope joined her again, needing to be near her boss for some inexplicable reason. "I don't expect things to ever be anything than what they are."

"Then you're stuck in a rut. Isn't that one of the basic tenets of your faith? That change can happen in an instant? That the new has come and the old has passed away? How can you have such faith in that and not in yourself?"

"Now you're the one not holding back." Erin took a deep breath and would have spoken once more had Penelope's phone not rung.

"Well, if it isn't Derek calling me. His ears must have been burning. Excuse me one moment." She answered the call and smiled. "Hey, Sugar, how are you? What am I doing? I'm with a friend, she's teaching me how to play the piano. No, that's not a boring Friday night. No, maybe tomorrow night, I want to stay right where I am. You know I'm a geek, Hot Stuff. This is fun." Penelope's face tightened and she reached out for Erin's hand. "No, I think my pranking days are over. We really hurt her. Yes, she does have feelings! Oh, my god, Derek! No, I'm calling back later, when you've calmed down about this. And what if I am? Frak you, Derek, you need to get sober and think about what you're saying. Good night."

She stuffed the phone back in her purse and clutched Erin's hand. "I was right, wasn't I?" Erin asked as she interlocked fingers with Penelope.

Reluctantly, Penelope nodded. "He has a lot of anger inside him. It's one of the things I tend to overlook. I know I probably shouldn't, but I do."

"Yet you stood up to him this time."

"I did, didn't I?" A wide grin spread across her face. "Thank you for pointing that out. You're proving to be a wonderful influence on me, Erin. I'm just sorry I missed it before. Say, do you want to go out for coffee sometime next week? I'd kinda like to get to know you better."

Erin thought for a moment, not looking at Penelope. "Actually, I think I'd like that. It would be nice to have another friend at the Bureau." Glancing over at Penelope from the corner of her eye, she smiled.

"Wonderful!" Penelope settled back in the sofa and began to pepper Erin with questions. In this moment, her heart felt at ease, something she'd missed since yesterday. Pausing, she looked, really looked, at Erin and saw the sweetness lurking under the surface.

"What?" Erin asked with a trill in her voice.

"I'm just reminded of a quote I read once on some message board." She took a deep breath and spoke once more. "In the end, love wins."

"That it does, Penelope. That it does."


End file.
